Jonathan Moeller - The Ghosts 08 - Ghost in the Mask (38 page)

“What is that?” said Caina. “Are you doing that? Is Jadriga?”

“I do not know,” said Horemb. The scribe looked frightened. “I am not doing this. Malifae is not doing it. I think…no.” He pointed. “I know what that is.”

Caina reached for her weapons.

Her mother floated down the street towards her.

Laeria Amalas wore her gold-colored gown, as she had in Caina’s dreams. She hovered a few feet off the ground, her golden skirts and black hair rippling in a cold wind. Her eyes blazed with green flame. 

“The crystal,” said Horemb.

“You know her?” said Caina. “That’s impossible. You died thousands of years before she was born.”

“I have never seen this woman before,” said Horemb. “But I know what she is.”

Caina’s fingers tightened against the hilt of her throwing knife. Of course, she supposed it wasn’t really a throwing knife, but a manifestation of her thoughts in this strange place. 

“Then what is she?” said Caina.

Laeria stopped a few yards away, still hovering over the street.

“The bloodcrystal,” said Horemb.

“The bloodcrystal?” said Caina. “You mean the Ascendant Bloodcrystal? That’s impossible. I’ve been seeing her in my dreams for weeks. The bloodcrystal’s a thing, a tool of sorcery. It doesn’t have a mind of its own.”

“But it does,” said Horemb. “That much necromantic force, imprinted upon an object created with such malice and hatred…the great bloodcrystals of old sometimes developed a will, a mind, of a sort. Not a consciousness, not truly. But a will to destroy, to conquer, to …”

“To,” said Laeria, “be wielded. To have my purpose fulfilled at last.” Her burning eyes fell upon Caina. “To destroy, as I was meant to destroy.” 

“You,” said Caina, “you were speaking my dreams. All those times.”

“Yes,” murmured Laeria.

“Why?” said Caina.

“Because I shall reach my apotheosis,” said Laeria, or the alien mind wearing Laeria’s form. “I shall fulfill my purpose, and soon. It is ordained. The shadows of the future converge. The ancient priest shall wield me. The sorceress of vengeance shall wield me. Or you shall wield me.”

“No,” said Caina. 

“Wake,” said Laeria, “and see.”

The white city splintered around them, shards of street and wall shooting upward into the sky. 

“What’s happening?” said Caina, shouting over the wind.

“You are expelling my daughter’s spirit from your flesh!” said Horemb. “Go! Go, child of the Ghosts. Remember what I have told you.”

Caina opened her mouth to answer, and the world shattered around her.

Chapter 27 - Jars of Flesh

Caina’s eyes burst open.

She was still on the floor in the Chamber of Ascension, chunks of rubble falling around her, the ghostsilver dagger a few paces away. Rhames stood on the dais, his hands moving through intricate gestures as he shattered the final wards around the Ascendant Bloodcrystal. She saw Kylon getting to his feet, saw a blue-clad figure lying in the rubble that was likely Claudia. 

Caina realized that she had been unconscious for only a few heartbeats. 

She grabbed the dagger, sat up, and felt a strong hand close around her arm. 

Corvalis helped her to stand.

“One last shot,” he said. His tone was grim. “We hit him hard enough, and we might get lucky and strike the canopic jar.” He took a deep breath. “On three. One…”

Green fire flared around Rhames, and he took a step closer to the bloodcrystal.

“No,” whispered Caina, grabbing his arm. “Listen to me. The canopic jar, it’s inside the seset-kadahn. The creature’s undead, it doesn’t need a heart or lungs. Rhames must have the jar sewn up inside the thing. We just need to get it open.”

The seset-kadahn shoved aside an enormous chunk of broken pillar, the muscles in its chest and arms bulging. 

“We’ll just ask it nicely to sit still,” said Corvalis. “I’m sure it will oblige.” 

“It has to be now,” said Caina. “Rhames isn’t paying any attention, and the creature’s pinned. This is our best chance.”

Corvalis nodded. “I know. I’ll attack it from the front and hold its attention. You cut it open from behind. Hopefully I can keep it occupied long enough for you to get the jar.” He took a deep breath. “If this goes badly…I love you.”

“Corvalis…” started Caina.

The last ward collapsed with a flicker of green light, and Rhames took the final step and seized the Ascendant Bloodcrystal. 

###

“No,” said Maena. “No, no, no. This cannot be happening. This…”

“I fear that it is, disciple of the abomination,” said Rhames.

Claudia’s eyes fluttered open, and she got to her feet, head spinning. She felt something wet and sticky on her cheek. Blood, most likely. Maena stood a few paces away, her green gown in dusty tatters, her eyes full of terror.

Rhames waited atop the dais, the Ascendant Bloodcrystal cradled in the crook of his right arm.

“Oh,” said Claudia. She ought to be terrified, she knew. She ought to run for her life, or fall on her knees and beg for mercy, but she felt no inclination to do either. 

She had failed, one last time. Rhames had taken the crystal, and the Empire would burn, a new Maatish kingdom rising from the ashes. 

Perhaps he had been too mighty for anyone to defeat. 

“You object, abomination,” said Rhames to Maena, “to my victory?”

Maena blinked and found her voice. “Of course not, Great Necromancer. I recognize the new order to come, and I might be of use to you. Let me be the first to pledge allegiance to…”

“Silence,” said Rhames, making a chopping gesture with his left hand.

Maena went rigid, her jaw clamping shut in the grip of Rhames’s sorcery.

“What a vile creature you are,” said Rhames, “a man’s spirit incarnated in the stolen flesh of a woman. A pale shadow of the Moroaica. Such a crime was punished most severely under the laws of the pharaohs. I will burn out both your tongue and your ability to wield arcane force, and then hand you over to the soldiers of the new kingdom, a plaything to use as they please.” 

His burning eyes turned towards Claudia, and she braced herself. 

“You, though,” said Rhames. “You might make a worthy acolyte.”

Claudia had not expected that.

“What?” she said at last. 

“You have arcane talent,” he said, “and you fought valiantly alongside the abomination. Though your efforts were in vain, of course.” Maena’s eyes rolled back and forth in terror, her body trembling. “And many men and women shall join in the noble labor of rebuilding the Kingdom of the Rising Sun. Join me, and you shall rise high in the new order.”

“I…” said Claudia. “I…”

She was horrified to realize that part of her, a large part, was tempted. She had always wanted to be a magus of the Magisterium, to use her sorcerous abilities for the good of the Empire. And with the power of Rhames behind her, she could do grand things.

He was going to win anyway.

Lord Martin and Harkus lay motionless some distance away. Blood tricked from beneath Martin’s helm, and she wanted to run to him.

Rhames had done that to him.

And as she turned her head to look back at the Great Necromancer, she saw a flicker of movement.

Two figures in shadow-cloaks hurried along the far wall, past the smashed balconies.

Caina and Corvalis. But what were they doing? Claudia knew her brother, and she knew at least a little about Caina. With so many lives at stake, they would do whatever they could to stop Rhames, even if it meant a final suicidal attack upon the great sorcerer. They would not slink away to hide. 

Unless they had a plan.

The certainty crystallized in Claudia’s mind.

Caina had a plan. 

And that meant Claudia had to distract Rhames as long as possible. 

###

Corvalis circled towards the seset-kadahn, sword and dagger pointed low. Caina crept to the side, her ghostsilver dagger ready. Once he distracted the undead thing, she would strike. A quick slice along the spine, parting the skin and muscle, and she would see if the jar was hidden beneath the creature’s ribs.

Or the seset-kadahn would simply rip her head off. 

Corvalis darted forward, slashing at the creature’s arms and shoulders. The seset-kadahn reached for him, and Corvalis jumped away. Caina charged, readying her grip on the dagger’s handle…

The seset-kadahn seized the broken pillar, lifted the mass of stone over its head, and flung it at Corvalis.

###

“I,” said Claudia, trying not to shiver beneath Rhames’s burning gaze. “I…I don’t know.”

“This world is in chaos,” said Rhames. “The Empire and New Kyre and Istarinmul war against each other, spilling blood to no purpose. The commoners are profane and crass, and waste their lives in idle futility, rather than finding purpose in diligently serving their betters. The gods of Maat are not honored. But I shall change that.” He lifted the glowing crystal, the glyphs upon its facets pulsing and flowing. “Perhaps you wish to become the new pharaoh? I require one. It is not meet for a Great Necromancer to rule the Kingdom of the Rising Sun, and women have sat upon the pharaoh’s throne before. With my counsel, you shall rule wisely and well, and then become Undying, to dwell in splendor and bliss forevermore.” 

“You tempt me,” said Claudia, but that was a lie. She did not look forward to aging and death, but the thought of becoming a creature like Maena or the Moroaica was far worse. She glimpsed a flurry of motion behind Maena as Caina and Corvalis charged the pinned seset-kadahn. Why do that? The Moroaica had said the seset-kadahn could not be defeated unless Rhames was first destroyed. Did they think to use the creature to harm Rhames somehow? “You tempt me sorely. But I…I am a Ghost of the Empire, I have taken oaths…”

“Oaths to a false Emperor,” said Rhames, “on the names of false gods. The gods of Maat are the true gods, and the pharaoh is the rightful ruler of mankind. Stand by me, and assist me in the work of bringing the world to divine order once more.” 

###

Kylon’s eyes snapped open.

Every inch of his body ached, but the sorcery of water had cushioned his fall, shielding his muscles and bones from the explosion’s terrible backlash. 

And as he awoke, the answer came to him. 

Just as in a fight, when he realized the exact strokes that would undo his opponent. Or when he commanded the seventh fleet of New Kyre in battle, when he saw the openings that would allow him to win the battle.

The canopic jar had to be with the seset-kadahn. There was nowhere else it could be. Rhames would not have carried it with him, not when he knew a rival sorcerer might attack him. And where better to hide it than within an undead warrior that could not betray him? The seset-kadahn had no need of functioning organs, and the hulking warrior’s ribs offered ample hiding space. 

Kylon drew on his sorcery, leaping to his feet. Rhames strode towards Claudia, the Ascendant Bloodcrystal in hand. Caina and Corvalis hurried towards the seset-kadahn on the other end of the chamber. They must have come to the same realization as Kylon. Corvalis attacked the undead thing, and Caina darted behind it.

The seset-kadahn seized the broken pillar and flung it at Corvalis. The former Kindred assassin ducked, but the flying piece of masonry clipped his sword and ripped the weapon from his hand. Corvalis stumbled, and the seset-kadahn seized its khopesh from the rubble and turned to face Caina. She dodged under the swing, the gleaming steel blurring over her head.

Kylon sprinted forward, drawing on the sorcery of air and water, and jumped. The power of his leap carried him over the shattered rubble, and he plummeted towards the undead thing. The seset-kadahn turned towards him, but Kylon had the momentum. His blade came down, ripping open the creature’s chest, and he pivoted and slashed at its leg. The creature tripped, and Corvalis snatched his sword and stabbed into its leg. 

Again the seset-kadahn stumbled, and Caina leapt upon its back, her dagger sinking between its ribs. She began sawing the blade back and forth, trying to tear an opening in the undead flesh, and Kylon knew that his guess had been right. The canopic jar was within the seset-kadahn.

They just had to get it before the creature ripped them apart or Rhames blasted them ashes. 

The seset-kadahn surged to its feet, throwing out its arms, and Caina lost her grip. She landed hard upon the uneven floor, and the undead warrior swung its khopesh at her. Caina rolled to the side, the hooked blade striking the stone hard enough to draw sparks. The seset-kadahn charged again, and Caina scrambled back, trying to get out of reach. Corvalis attacked, his flashing blade opening a gash on the back of the seset-kadahn’s right leg. Again the creature stumbled, turning to face the new threat.

Kylon sprang into the opening, both hands around his hilt, all his strength and sorcery driving the blow. His sword sank to the crosspiece in the seset-kadahn’s belly, and the sheer power of the impact drove the creature onto its heels. Kylon yanked his sword free, the icy blade swirling with white mist, and Caina drove her dagger into the undead warrior’s back, tearing the gash wider.

The creature’s wounds were still healing themselves, but the more wounds it took, the slower they closed. And the seset-kadahn was not adapting well to fighting all of them at once. Kylon suspected that for all the warrior’s strength and speed, it was simply not that intelligent. Or perhaps it had no mind at all, and was simply an automaton driven by Rhames’s sorcery. 

The seset-kadahn threw off Caina, and Kylon and Corvalis attacked.

###

“I…I don’t know,” said Claudia, stalling for time “I…I just have to think it over. It’s…so much. So many lives, so much responsibility…”

She rambled on, keeping her eyes fixed on Rhames and fighting the temptation to see what Caina and Corvalis were doing. She had to keep Rhames’s attention focused upon her, keep him from noticing whatever Caina intended.